Unified Budget Hid Postwar Surpluses

Folding Social Security into the 'unified budget' under Lyndon Johnson made earlier fiscal strength harder to see and confused how historians read the 1950–69 period. Looking at primary balances (excluding interest) shows those years featured meaningful surpluses that, alongside inflation/pegged rates, helped drive debt/GDP down. — This reframes current debt debates by pointing to accounting conventions and primary balances as decisive levers, not just growth or austerity slogans.